This week's Carnival of Homeschooling is up - the Robert E. Lee Edition

Alasandra is hosting this week's Carnival of Homeschooling at Alasandra's Homeschool Blog.

Alasandra starts the carnival with:

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Robert E Lee was born on January 19, 1807 in Stratford, Virginia. His father, Colonel Henry Lee, also known as "Light-Horse Harry," had served as a cavalry leader during the Revolutionary War and gone on to become one of the war's heroes, winning praise from General George Washington.
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Enjoy!

Teaching our children some of the really important lessons

Over twenty years ago I started using a Franklin planner. The company merged with Stephen Covey’s company to produce the Franklin-Covey system. Stephen Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People had a large impact on the approach suggested for using their planner. One of the key components is to really ponder on your most important values and record them. These values help you recognize the various roles you take on in your life. Then as you do your weekly planning you reflect on your values and roles. This helps you focus on the things which are really important to you and helps you not to be distracted by things which seem urgent but are of little worth.

When I first started using this system and the planner I spent several hours pondering on my values and roles. I dutifully recorded them. Life seems to be hectic and unfortunately I get distracted, so I don’t sit down every week, but on average I manage to sit down a couple times a month to reflect on the most important activities in the upcoming days. I’ve found the Franklin-Covey approach a great help in keeping me focused and making sure I am working on what is truly important to me.

I believe having a system like this can help us be much, much more impactful than if we just kind of float along. In addition to teaching our children how to read, do math, know a little bit about history and so on, one of the really vital things we can teach our children is how to organize their lives so they will not flounder but move purposefully forward.

As our children have gotten older Janine and I have encouraged them to step back and make goals. We’ve asked them to take charge of their lives. We’ve worked to give them the tools and techniques to manage themselves. In one sense this may be one of the most important lessons we teach our children.

Is Higher Education doomed?

Michael Staton claims The Degree Is Doomed.  I enjoyed the post.

It starts with:

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The credential — the degree or certificate — has long been the quintessential value proposition of higher education. Americans have embraced degrees with a fervor generally reserved for bologna or hot dogs. Everyone should have them! Many and often! And their perceived value elsewhere in the world — in Asia in particular — is if anything even higher.

From the evaluator’s standpoint, credentials provide signals that allow one to make quick assumptions about a candidate’s potential contribution to an organization and their ability to flourish on the job. To a prospective student (or parent), the value lies in assuming these signals will be accepted in employment markets and other times of social evaluation. These signals have long been known to be imperfect, but they were often the only game in town. Thus, a degree from a top university has been seen to contain crucial information about a person’s skills, networks, and work habits.

Higher education, however, is in the midst of dramatic, disruptive change. It is, to use the language of innovation theorists and practitioners, being unbundled. (Some more of my thoughts on higher-ed unbundling can be found here.) And with that unbundling, the traditional credential is rapidly losing relevance. The value of paper degrees lies in a common agreement to accept them as a proxy for competence and status, and that agreement is less rock solid than the higher education establishment would like to believe.
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Physics has a concept called momentum.  Things will keep going the way they are going unless there are significant forces.  I can see reasons why the college degree may lose its value, but I don't think it will happen over night, and it maybe that only some degrees lose their value.

The difference between knowledge and wisdom

This is a fun way to show the difference between knowledge and wisdom:

Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.

Hat tip: Dan Galvin's Thought For The Day mailing list:

Fascinating article about an abrupt firing at AOL

I happened across an article on The Story Behind Why AOL CEO Tim Armstrong Fired An Employee In Front Of 1,000 Coworkers.

It was fascinating.

April 15th isn't that far away

From Dan Galvin's Thought For The Day mailing list:

The income tax has made more liars out of the American people than golf has. Even when you make a tax form out on the level, you don't know when it's through if you are a crook or a martyr. 
   -- Will Rogers

Update on homeschooling in Germany

Meanwhile, Back in the Fatherland ... is an update on what is happening with the Wunderlich family in Germany.

I am so glad homeschooling is legal in the United States.

Life Humor 2.I

From the Henry Cate Life Humor collection:
Life Humor 2.I was originally posted 19 Nov 1987

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Lenin is dying, and talking things over with Stalin, his successor.
"The one worry I have", says Lenin, "is this: will the people follow you? What do you think, comrade Stalin?"
"They will", says Stalin, "they surely will."
"I hope so", says Lenin, "but what if they don't follow you?".
"No problem", says Stalin, "then they'll follow you."

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Two Russian border guards, Ivan and Vladimir, on a cold winter morning. Looking across the border, Ivan is smiling to himself, then he notices that Vladimir is also smiling.
Ivan [suspiciously]:  "What were you thinking about?"
Vladimir:  "Same thing you were thinking about, comrade."
Ivan:  "Then it is my duty to arrest you."

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 An elderly man stands in line for hours at a Warsaw meat store (meat is severely rationed).  When the butcher comes out at the end of the  day and announces that there is no meat left, the man flies into a rage.

"What is this?" he shouts.  "I fought against the Nazis, I worked  hard all my life, I've been a loyal citizen, and now you tell me I can't even buy a piece of meat?  This rotten system stinks!"
Suddenly a thuggish man in a black leather coat sidles up and murmurs "Take it easy, comrade.  Remember what would have happened if you had made an outburst like that only a few years ago" -- and he points an imaginary gun to this head and pulls the trigger.

The old man goes home, and his wife says, "So they're out of  meat again?"

"It's worse than that," he replies.  "They're out of bullets."

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What do Winnie the Pooh and John the Baptist have in common?
They have the same middle name.

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#1: Save the whales.
#2: Collect the whole set.

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A candidate and a voter are having a conversation outside the polling place.
Voter:  I would not vote for you if you were St. Peter himself.
Candidate:  If I were St. Peter, you would not live in my district.

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The Pentagon has deployed trained dolphins in the Persian Gulf to detect under water mines. They will be used for purely defensive porpoises

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Proposed Country-Western song titles:

I Wouldn't Take You to a Dog Fight Even If I Thought You Could Win
My John Deere Was Breaking Your Field, While Your Dear John Was Breaking My Heart

Tennis Must Be Your Racket, 'Cause Love Means Nothin' to You

I've Got Red Eyes From Your White Lies and I'm Blue All the Time

I Liked You Better Before I Knew You So Well

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Gary Hart's big mistake:

He should have had Ted Kennedy drive her home that night.

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"Maybe this world is another planet's Hell."
                                -Aldous Huxley

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More IT'S A SMALL TOWN

You know you're in a small town.....

when you turn on your hair dryer and the street lights dim...

Everyone knows whose credit is good, and whose wife isn't.

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Found at the end of a submission by Alexander Falk to the info-mac digest.

IF YOU CAN SEE IT AND IT'S THERE - IT'S REAL
IF YOU CAN SEE IT AND IT ISN'T THERE - IT'S VIRTUAL
IF YOU CAN'T SEE IT AND IT'S THERE - IT'S TRANSPARENT
IF YOU CAN'T SEE IT AND IT ISN'T THERE - IT'S   G O N E

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This travelling guy was once driving outside a small town and right in front of a mad peoples home (madhouse or whatever it's called) his front wheel comes off. Looking into the problem he finds that all four of the wheel's nuts have come off. `This is a fine mess' he thinks loudly `how am I ever going to get out of here'. In frustration he sits down by the side of a road to think things out. All this while there was a mad inmate who watched the whole scene from his window. After a while he calls out to the traveler asking him to approach the window. The man looks at him and decides that the last thing he can handle is a conversation with a lunatic and ignores him but eventually gives in when he persists. When he approaches the window the mad man tells him to take one nut out of each of his other wheels and use it temporarily on wheel that's come off. This way he could get to next town and buy 4 more. The traveler looks at him in disbelief, this had never occurred to him.  Totally blown away by this, he apologizes for his rude behavior previously and ask him why he's in a mad house when he's has so much common sense. To this he gets the reply "I'm mad not STUPID".

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    The meek will inherit the earth--if that's OK with you.

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Here are some funny(?) phrases and constructions that my wife brought home from her class. (She is a high school English teacher.)  These actually appeared in her students' homework and exams.  I thought that they were funny enough to be included in rec.humor.

I loved her so much that I put her on a pedal stool.

When I grow up I want to be a whorse trainer.

She left him because he took her for granite.

In the Middle Ages Europe was swept by the Blue Bonnet plague.

When you have finished the final step, Walla! you're ready to bake your cake.

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A key component to growth

The strongest principle of growth lies in human choice.
  - George Eliot

From my Franklin Covey planner.

A cool tool for seeing our local neighborhood of stars

Stars is a fun way to see where how our close stars are located.

The latest Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival is up

The latest Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival is up at Letters from Nebby.

Reminder - Please submit your post for the next Carnival of Homeschooling

Please remember to send in a post about homeschooling for the next Carnival of Homeschooling. The next Carnival of Homeschooling will be held here at Alasandra's Homeschool Blog.

This will be the 421st edition of the Carnival of Homeschooling.

Go here for the instructions on sending in a submission.

As always, entries to the Carnival of Homeschooling are due Monday evening at 6:00 PM Pacific Standard Time.

I have a reminder mailing list. If you would like email reminders, please tell me.

Some of our best posts from December 2008

Janine and I have been blogging about homeschooling for almost eight years. If you missed some of our early posts, you have missed some of our best thoughts. Here are some highlights from December 2008:

Paying more for an education than it is worth is about how the costs of higher education make exceed the benefit.

The title says it all: Another reason to homeschool - to teach your children to be honest.

Janine posted a picture of the foster boy we ended up adopting: Update on "Baby Bop"

An approach for dealing with worry

Write down several things you worry about.  Circle those things you can do something about and work on them.  Forget the rest.

From my Franklin Covey planner.

Shakespeare's Who's On First

Debbie left a comment on our post about Abbott & Costello's Who's On First with a link to a hilarious video of Shakespeare's Who's On First:



Enjoy.

One homeschooling families experience in preparing for a State of California University

If you homeschool in California you may find Academically Preparing a Homeschool High School Student for a State of California University informative.

This is a great point to remember

The question should be, is it worth trying to do, not can it be done.
  - Allard Lowenstein

From my Franklin Covey planner.

This week's Carnival of Homeschooling is up - The Model Homes edition

This week's Carnival of Homeschooling is up at Home Spun Juggling.

The carnival starts with:

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Welcome to the Carnival of Homeschooling: The Model Homes edition!

By "model," I mean "miniature reproductions." Last week, my family went to the Holiday Train Show at the NY Botanical Garden. It's become a tradition for us to visit and see what's new. Each year, designer Paul Busse and his team add to the collection of historical buildings and homes in this display. There is always a surprise. Just like our journey as homeschoolers, following the model trains always leads to unexpected discoveries, giggles and wonder. Come along for the ride.
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Enjoy.

Life Humor 2.H

From the Henry Cate Life Humor collection:
Life Humor 2.H was posted 19 Nov 1987

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From the November issue of Road & Track...

From there's-gotta-be-a-better-way file: A man from Kokomo, Indiana drove his car to Indianapolis to pick up a truck he purchased. The problem: two vehicles, ONE driver. So, he drove his car up the road, parked and walked back to the truck. Then, he drove the car a ways past the truck.... The dealership is 63 miles from Kokomo. The story ran in the Indianapolis News.

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"If you took all the economists and laid them head to toe, they would stretch around the world three times and the only thing they would not reach is a conclusion."

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Wanna know how to make a small fortune in stocks?
Start with a large fortune.

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How many investment brokers does it take to change a light bulb?
A: MY GOD!!  IT BURNT OUT!!  SELL ALL MY G.E. STOCK NOW!!!!!
B: Two.  One to take out the bulb and drop it, and the other to try and sell it before it crashes.

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Heard on WITR yesterday: RIT students have organized their annual community involvement volunteer project.  This year's project will be to help clean up Mt. Hope Cemetery.  The project has been titled "The Grateful Dead".

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Person 1:  Do you know how to save a drowning lawyer?
Person 2:  No.
Person 1:  GOOD!

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 A rabbi, a priest, and a lawyer were all caught in a shipwreck. Naturally, there are a lot of sharks circling around.  All of a sudden, one shark darts in and grabs the priest for lunch.  No more priest. The rabbi starts praying frantically, but to no avail, as a shark comes in and eats him, too.  Now the lawyer is really worried, as a shark is coming for him.  But, miracle of miracles, the shark puts him on its back, carries him to shore, and lets him off.  The lawyer, curious, waits till the shark is far enough away not to eat him, and asks, "How come you didn't eat me?"  And the shark replies, "Professional Courtesy!"

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Some of our best posts from November 2008

Janine and I have been blogging about homeschooling for almost eight years. If you missed some of our early posts, you have missed some of our best thoughts. Here are some highlights from November 2008:

A nice thing about homeschooling is about the freedom to make your own schedules.

A few more thoughts on habits

Be patient with yourself when breaking unfavorable habits.

Schedule time to work on breaking an unfavorable habit.

From my Franklin Covey planner.

Life Humor 2.G

From the Henry Cate Life Humor collection:
Life 2.G was posted 13 Oct 1987

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On Sept. 28, a production B-1 Bomber crashed.  The cause: a flock of birds.

The obvious question is, why not devote some of the billions of dollars being spent on national defense to build bird farms?

The Army could fence up thousands of birds in selected locations, and release them if enemy planes were detected.

This would be called the "Strategic Fence Initiative".

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After a long discussion about giving out phone numbers to store clerks, the following comment was made:

Many folks have written with perfectly plausible explanations about why merchants take my phone number on a credit card charge.  What these fail to address, however, is that if I'm perpetrating a fraud in the use of this credit card, I'm not about to give out a correct phone number. They make no effort to validate the phone number before I leave, so what they're doing is collecting the phone numbers of a bunch of honest people.
Now then...Why are they collecting the phone numbers of a bunch of honest people?

I once asked why you are asked for your phone number when using your charge cards.  The clerk explained that thieves have been caught because they stupidly put down THEIR home phone number, not the phone number of the person who "owned" the card.

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I got a call yesterday from your typical sales rep.  Actually, she wasn't so typical...

TELEPHONE: RING!

ME [picking up phone]: Hello?

SALES REP: Hello.  I represent such-and-such a company.  We make products for children and --

ME: Excuse me.

SALES REP: Yes?

ME: I don't have any children.

SALES REP: Do you have any grandchildren, then?

I gave up at that point...

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bumper sticker:
MY WIFE'S OTHER CAR IS A BROOM

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After three earthquakes and a record breaking heat wave, the climate in California this week is: SHAKE AND BAKE

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The city of Whittier, California was founded many years ago, mainly by Quakers. There is a prominent sign composed of large, brass letters on one of the financial institutions in that community identifying it as the Quaker City Bank.  The last letter of the first word fell off during an earthquake yesterday, making the sign read "Quake City Bank."

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My 1st Grade Curriculum

This is a visual representation of our 1st Grade Curriculum.  We are a bit eclectic.  Also, our son is a non-traditional learner with some neuro-processing challenges.

I create most of my own worksheets using Peterson Directed Handwriting fonts.  I got the idea for my "daily sheet" from Saxon Math.

I change the counting pattern and then number each day.  You may have noticed that the number of the day corresponds to the date.  So basically, I repeat math facts for the counting numbers 1-31.  We have stackable counting blocks that are the exact size of the square.  I give Baby Bop the correct number of counting blocks.  He counts them out for me, then divides them into two towers and then writes the number of blocks for each tower in the square.  We recently added a subtraction question following a similar format.


Next, I have a work sheet which is a scripture summary.  I read the scripture verses with Baby Bop.  We talk about it and then he copies a simple scripture summary.  I use the same scripture all week and just print out a new worksheet for each day.

I try to do a page of Explode the Code every day.  Because Baby Bop struggles with phonetic awareness, this is harder than it sounds.

I also give him a sheet for writing.  I help him write a sentence and he draws a picture to go with it.

On Monday, we have a music teacher which comes to the house to give piano and violin lessons.  (I love having a music teacher that comes to the house because it saves me so much time).  I realized that I couldn't help Baby Bop with his practicing since I don't play violin.  I also realized that I could use my daughter's full size violin.  So, now I take violin lessons with my son.

Baby Bop also has a tutor with training in occupational therapy who comes to the house once a week and he goes to speech therapy once a week.  We utilize outside classes, such as gymnastics class, theater class, and science class.  All my children attend a homeschool co-op once a week that includes a variety of classes.

And of course, Baby Bop plays with Legos, toy dinosaurs and stuffed animals.

This sums up my 1st Grade curriculum.

Thought on habit

Habit is the best of servants, or the worst of masters.
  - Nathaniel Emmons

From my Franklin Covey planner.

My son is pretty excited about this

My son is constantly asking how much longer till How To Train Your Dragon 2:



It is going to be a long five months.